A.G. Walker- Surveyor, Civic Leader, and State Senator

A.G. Walker- Surveyor, Civic Leader, and State Senator

Pioneers

A.G. Walker (1807-1882) was land surveyor and a civic leader in Birdville, founder of the Birdville Union newspaper (), and a state senator from 1857-1860. Walker by some accounts was involved in a wild west style shootout with rival newspaperman and Fort Worth's first notary public John Jeff Courtenay. Courtenay was an early secessionist who established the count's first newspaper, The Birdville Western Express in 1855. The two had traded vicous attacks in their newspapers. This eventually enraged Courtenay so severely that he either stormed into Walker's office and fired at him missing and then was shot dead by Walker or they met on the street with Walker being faster on the draw and killing Courtenay. Either way, what is certain is that Walker was tried for murder and found to be not quilty.